Journey Principles Radio: Throwbacks

It is our hope that the Journey Principles Podcast will help you grow and lead you toward the life you want with amazing guests, easy to apply practical principles, and personal motivation.
Stephen shares from his knowledge, his experiences, and most of all, his heart! He knows all about suffering and bears witness to how amazing life can be when we choose to take a stand and apply principles that matter. Many of these are the same principles that transcended him from being virtually homeless and ready to take his life to becoming a respected and successful business owner.
In a very transparent way, Stephen and his guests will walk you through the principles they have adopted into their lives and use daily. They will teach you how to transform from who you think you are today to becoming who you’re meant to be! It does not matter what kind of setbacks you have experienced so far. Stephen and his guests share from their personal, real-life journeys in order to empower you, the listener.

Grammy-award winning producers talk about what it’s like to live their life through their faith perspective and music. No production entity in Christian hip hop has achieved more in the past. Formed by Joseph Prielozny and Dirty Rice, COBRA collaborated with Lecrae on his September release, Anomaly to earn a Grammy Award for the song “Messengers” and another nomination for “All I Need Is You.” On Tuesday, the extended COBRA crew, which includes rapper KB and singer-songwriter Natalie Lauren, gave birth to Tomorrow We Live. Dirty Rice produced seven out of the album's 14 tracks with Prielozny, who also played the role of A&R with Lauren.

“I think [Prielozny] is the genius behind a lot of what has come out of Reach, and Dirty’s a beast,” KB said, “and when we come together, you might get struck by the COBRA.”

Tomorrow We Live has been purchased more on iTunes than any hip-hop album this week besides Love Story by Eminem-endorsed Yelawolf. Its success was predictable, considering that Reach Records has had 17 straight solo albums chart on the Billboard 200. Less predictable were the events that made COBRA — and Tomorrow We Live as it exists today — possible.

A New Leaf

Before Reach CEO Ben Washer wanted to sign Lecrae, he had his eye on another act — A New Leaf, an acoustic duo formed by Kurt Denmark and Prielozny, whose brother roomed in college with Washer. A New Leaf flew to New York to record its Reach debut, but the group ultimately never released any music.

“I just felt like I didn’t need to be in the spotlight,” Prielozny said.

Instead, Prielozny accepted a job in Nashville, Tennessee as an assistant to Grammy-nominated producer Shaun Shankel. Then in 2004, Washer sent Prielozny an album that captured his attention — Real Talk by Lecrae.

“Man, this Christian music is different from the Christian music I’m working on in Nashville,” Prielozny said.

Bored one night, Prielozny produced a rock remix of Real Talk and returned it to Washer. Lecrae loved it. This led to Amped, the rap-rock EP released in 2007 by the 116 Clique, and then an offer for Prielozny to join Reach as an on-staff producer. Listen to the show and learn how perseverance and not fearing failure can inspire the change you most desire out of life.